Women on the cusp of becoming pro will have support as they progress their careers with the creation of a new Elite development team – Footon Velosport.

Team Velosport, whose 2015 roster of six included British Time Trial Champion Hayley Simmonds, have partnered with the existing women’s UCI team Servetto Footon to create the new springboard group.

The British outfit will be a stepping stone into pro cycling, aiming to support talented riders on their passage to a fully-fledged career.

As part of the team, ex-rower Simmonds won the British Time Trial Championships, and went on to be selected by British Cycling to represent GB in the Richmond World Championships time trial and road race.

Footon Velosport Team Manager Mauro Pizzol said: “This is simply a further development of what has always been our main aim: to provide opportunities and the right experience to talented riders and to help them to progress to professional level.

“We are very proud of what our riders have achieved this year and we are extremely grateful to Velosport, CychoCycle, SPIN and all our partners that have supported us so far and will continue to support us next year. We are honoured to receive additional support for 2016 from a partner such as Footon.”

Had added: “We will soon announce the full line up and calendar. We can already say that our 2016 season will include a substantial amount of UCI events plus training camps and races in Italy alongside Team Servetto Footon”.

Footon is a Swiss based company that has supported world class cycling over the years, including the professional Team Footon Servetto – and they will of course ensure the team enjoy a range of new Footon bikes.

This year, Footon Sevetto signed British ex-Matrix-Fitness rider Jessie Walker, who has clearly had an impact on the management. Team manager Dario Rossino said “Our interest for the British scene is stronger than ever, after a very positive experience this year with Jessie Walker. We will soon announce an additional British signing and we will work closely with the Footon Velosport Team to help any talented riders to develop and compete at the right level which will allow them to shine”.